Hundreds of people began crowding the ropes around the 10th tee on the South Course, where their round began, and the putting green behind it half an hour before the group teed off Tuesday. The swell of people filmed Woods’ initial tee shot, a drive in the center of the fairway, then migrated down the hill after him for his second shot.
Ovard was the furthest out and hit first, followed by Woods. After Woods hit his approach, he waited for Kyes’ shot, but the rest of the crowd started moving towards the green beforehand. Kyes’ caddie asked for the group to hold, which most did. But some didn’t, causing motion and some noise off to his right during his swing. Kyes was unfazed and stuck his approach inside 15 feet to set up a birdie, but Woods still made sure he wasn’t being bothered by the crowd.
After the shot, Woods told Kyes the group could play out of order with Woods going last, if needed, to avoid crowd movement during other swings. Woods’ acknowledgment, however, didn’t change how the group played and they stuck with going furthest out hitting first.
South Course in prime condition
The South Course, home to 11 previous USGA championships dating back to the 1924 U.S. Open, was a challenge for the top golfers under age 19. The par-70 course played at 7,303 yards and had all of the features of a major championship venue.
The course is defined by the undulating properties which create hills in every direction on each hole, whether it is the fairway creating an uphill or downhill lie for approaches or tricky false fronts and steep breaks on the massive greens. Groundskeepers said last month those greens would be dried out to roll as fast as possible, which was evident with the cautious approach of attacking the middle of the green to set up two putts, which could easily end up as a frustrating three-putt.
Lining each of the tight fairways were thickets of Kentucky bluegrass and vast bunkers to punish any mistakes off the tee. The rough was over 4 inches long — as long as 5 inches in places — which shortened shots and twisted club faces, especially around the green on chips where control is paramount. There are multiple bunkers on each hole, covering 200,000 square feet over the 18 holes; the bunkers are so deep they are not visible if you stand on the green and turn to look back at the tee box, forcing players to dig deep and go high if they found themselves beached.
Woods has length, struggled with short game
If you walked onto the course with no priors, it would be hard to tell Woods was 15 and Kyes and Ovard were each three years older. Woods could match their distance off the tee with driver and often had similar club selections from the same distances when reaching for an iron.
A lot of the struggles came near the green in the short game. He had multiple holes, such as the 14h on the North on Monday or the 18th on the South on Tuesday, where he had to chip multiple times, whether it ran too fast through the green or he fell victim to the false fronts. Some three-putts featuring burnt edges and lip outs also visibly frustrated him, though he was always quick to shake it off before his next shot.
Who was in the crowd
The crowd following Woods’ group, double the size of Monday’s at the least, peaked before Tuesday’s rain delay on the South Course, with hundreds of people in the gallery until a thunderstorm rolled through during the 14th hole.
It consisted of some avid golf fans rocking Tiger Woods-branded hats and some Oakland Hills 1996 U.S. Open merchandise but mostly families eager to get a glimpse at two generations of golf’s most popular family. Plenty of parents brought their kids to point out Tiger in the flesh and be able to crowd the ropes and cheer for Charlie’s tee shots and made putts. Groups of teenagers rolled up to watch their contemporaries at the top of their field. Locals in Bloomfield Township walked over to enjoy the free action, and the rain delay allowed families of players from around the world to interact with golf fans from Michigan and connect by talking about the game while huddled under the bathroom canopy near the 13th tee box.
The atmosphere felt like a high-stakes tournament, but nearly all positive, with people providing the soundtrack to each shot. There were claps for nearly every shot hit and cheers for made putts from all three players, as well as gasps in the right spots when a putt came one revolution short of ending up in the cup.
Oakland Hills staff ready for the moment
A battalion of friendly volunteers in light blue shirts was in charge of maintaining the peace as the crowd migrated with Woods’ group.
The volunteers, made up of locals from the Bloomfield community and Oakland Hills, did a great job of manually handling the ropes to shepherd the fans to the right spots the best they could without disrupting any play. Despite dealing with so many people, the volunteers were always cordial with fans and helped keep everyone out of the line of fire despite people moving as they pleased. The course didn’t have many ropes set up but had to have people constantly setting a boundary for Woods’ group before each shot.
There are some things the tournament could do to improve things for fans, such as having a board with player names on each hole to identify groups, but volunteers did what they could to let fans watch Woods as closely as possible without disturbing the group — or others on surrounding holes.
